Monthly Archives: January 2015

LEND ME A TENOR

Auditions are Monday, March 30 at 6:30 and Tuesday, March 31 at 6:30
Lend Me A Tenor will be directed by Heidi Schiller

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

• Cold readings from the script.
• Due to the nature of the farce, auditions will include a physical element.
• Auditioners for the roles of Max, Tito and Bellhop will be asked to sing – a basic good voice that can follow karaoke opera.
• Bring your calendar to auditions and be prepared to list all conflicts.
• All roles are available.

IMPORTANT DATES:

• Lend Me A Tenor opens Friday May 22, 2015 and continues May 23, May 24, May 29, May 30 and May 31. Friday and Saturday performances are at 8:00 PM and Sunday performances are at 2:00 PM.

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About the Play

Lend Me A Tenor is a door-slamming, dress-dropping farce with mistaken identities, mischievous misunderstandings and compromising  positions. It is the biggest night in the history of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, and world-famous Italian tenor Signor Tito Merelli will be their guest artist in Otello, the highlight of the company’s most important fundraiser for the 1934 season. But Tito’s troubled life, his hot-headed wife, and a “Dear John”  letter mistaken as Tito’s suicide note sends everybody’s head  swimming. No Tito, no $50,000 in ticket sales. Meanwhile, Max, an opera singer wanna-be, is coerced into impersonating the Italian great to save the show. In costume, wig and  make-up, he’s is a dead ringer for the dead singer. But can Max find the courage to go on with the show? The surprises have just begun in this superbly crafted, eye-watering farce.

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Role Breakdowns

• Max: (20s to mid 30s) Assistant to Saunders – An aspiring singer. His worst enemy is his own lack of self-confidence. He spends his time as a doormat to his future father-in-law and trying to convince Maggie that he is marriage material. NOTE: This role requires the actor to sing with a basic good voice and, at times, speak in an Italian accent.
• Maggie: (20s to 30s) Max’s girlfriend – pretty, quirky; a young woman who doesn’t want to settle for the seemingly mundane life she has with Max. She longs for an adventurous fling, one which will allow her to “hear bells.”
• Saunders: (mid 50s) Maggie’s father and the General Manager of the Cleveland Grand Opera Company – authoritarian; an uptight man with a short fuse, most of which he takes out on Max. He shoulders the pressure of the Opera Company.
• Tito: (30s to 40s) The World Famous Tenor known also to his fans as “Il Stupendo” – imposing; a womanizing Italian who loves Maria, but finds difficulty resisting the advances of the opposite sex, who seem to advance frequently and with considerable momentum. NOTE: This role requires the actor to sing with a basic good voice and speak in an Italian accent.
• Maria: (30s) Tito’s wife – Sophia Loren-type: lusty, proud, and excitable; a passionate and temperamental Italian woman who is growing weary of her husband’s wandering eye (and body) for the opposite sex. NOTE: This role requires the actor to speak in an Italian accent.
• Bellhop: (age open) A bellhop – a highly energetic fan of Tito’s, who uses his occupation to get close to the international star.NOTE: This role requires the actor to sing.
• Diana: (mid 30s) a soprano with the Cleveland Grand Opera Company – beautiful, sexy; a member of the opera company who has been “flinging her way through the whole cast.” Playing Desdemona opposite Tito.
• Julia: (60s) Chairman of the Opera Guild – over the hill, ex-diva, for whom the Cleveland Grand Opera Company is the center of her small pretentious world.